After the Blight - Letters for the Warden and Others
by BrennaCeDria
Summary: A series of letters sent to and from Queen Elissa Cousland, Warden Commander of Ferelden, in the months and years following the Blight. Art by whitethornwolf.
1. 23 Haring, 9:31 Dragon

_This series began as a prompt fill from the Dragon Age Pairing Generator of "Leliana/f!Cousland, Letters" but will cover other letters sent to and from Elissa in the months and years following the end of the Blight. All events and characters mentioned throughout the series coincide with my continuity from A Warden's Duty, building on a combination of my gameplay and fic and Bioware's own canon._

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_23 Haring, 9:31 Dragon_

To Her Majesty, the Warden Commander Elissa Cousland, Queen of Ferelden,

I must admit, I never expected such a mouthful of titles to head a letter to such a dear friend! My ship was forced into port in Jader to wait out some rather bothersome storms on the Waking Sea, so I'm writing this from the comparative comfort of a private room in an inn near the chantry here. I have a clean bed, hot food and baths, and a warm hearth. And no more tossing on the waves, at least for a few more nights, so I can actually sleep at night, as well! You can't hear me laughing now, of course, but I really DO dislike sailing. Those boats on Lake Calenhad were pleasant enough, but the open sea I cannot abide! We'll be on our way again soon enough, though; just as soon as these storms have run their course.

There is something I do think you should know, my friend. Not long after arriving here I was summoned to the chantry by the Revered Mother. It seems they wish me to lead a company into the Frostbacks so that they might confirm Brother Genitivi's most recent… _research_. Were the dragon you faced still present, I would have warned them away at all costs, but as it was the best I could do was convince her Reverence that I was on my way to Val Royeaux on important business for you, to request access to the Divine's libraries to research the Blights. (Luckily, one of the Grey Wardens who came to Denerim just after the great battle was not only on my ship, but is staying at the same inn I am. He accompanied me to the chantry, and impressed upon her Reverence that my mission was of the highest priority. Without him, I doubt it would have been as simple to turn down the "offer" made to me.) In any case, I don't believe the Chantry's attempt to reassign me, as it were, was a malicious one but you and Alistair should be aware nonetheless that they will be sending adventurers, and possibly even pilgrims, into Haven soon.

Ah! But speaking of your love, have the two of you made _suitable progress_ toward your heir? I know you were drinking those potions of Wynne's during the Blight, but now that you are safely married, I imagine that you have set them aside, yes? I know that you'll be serving as Warden Commander as well, of course, but were you to have a family I'm sure your First Warden would forgive you for leading from Denerim instead of dour, dreary Amaranthine! You must let me know as soon as you do, so I can return to Ferelden and spoil the darling prince or princess appropriately!

Unfortunately, I must end this letter all too soon; it is well past midnight and I must be up at dawn to meet with the ship's captain to find out when he intends to set sail again. I'd rather not give up the comforts of dry land, of course, but I really must get to Val Royeaux as quickly as I can. I assume you'll be at Vigil's Keep by the time the couriers reach eastern Ferelden, so I'll have them deliver this and any future letters there—let me know if you return to Denerim, or travel anywhere else, and I'll try to have any future letters reach you as quickly as I can.

Your dearest friend,

Leliana


	2. 11 Wintermarch, 9:32 Dragon

___This series began as a prompt fill from the Dragon Age Pairing Generator of "Leliana/f!Cousland, Letters" but will cover other letters sent to and from Elissa in the months and years following the end of the Blight. All events and characters mentioned throughout the series coincide with my continuity from A Warden's Duty, building on a combination of my gameplay and fic and Bioware's own canon._

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_11 Wintermarch, 9:32 Dragon_

Leliana,

You know perfectly well that none of those titles apply to you. Unfortunately, this isn't going to be as pleasant a letter as I'd hoped to send in reply to yours.

Things are quite a bit more complicated than I'd expected them to be when I arrived in Amaranthine almost two weeks ago. You remember the rumors of the continued darkspawn activity in the arling, don't you? Well, it seems to be worse than we thought; instead of just random bands of darkspawn raiders harassing travelers (although there are those, too!) there seems to be a level of organization behind the attacks that simply shouldn't be possible now. Vigil's Keep was under attack from within when I got here, and every Grey Warden assigned to it was either killed or has gone missing-only one was away from the Keep when the attack came from below its foundations, and he is still unaccounted for. From the stories told by the surviving soldiers, it seems the darkspawn only directly attacked the Wardens that were present; recruits who'd not yet taken their Joining and other laymen were secondary to the darkspawn.

Something is _leading_ them, Lil. I don't know what, but there's no other answer for what's happening. It's not an archdemon. Alistair and I would know—and trust me, the moment word reached Denerim that something had happened here, Alistair had half of the Grand Cleric's templars, and probably just as many of Cauthrien's men, on a forced march straight here. He and Oghren both say hello, by the way. (Yes, Oghren's here, too. No, you probably don't want to know.) At any rate, Alistair will be leaving to return to the capital first thing in the morning. We decided he should stay to symbolically oversee the induction of the first Fereldan Grey Wardens since my own Joining, but we can't justify him staying any longer. I have a total of three new Wardens—Oghren (I _told_ you you didn't want to know), an apostate we found, Anders, plus Howe's own son Nathaniel. It's terrible, but I was disappointed that he survived where one of my other recruits did not.

But I digress. When you gain access to the Divine's archives, I'd like you to focus on anything you can find regarding sentience among the darkspawn, especially in the case of non-mage hurlocks. I don't have any other information at the moment to narrow that down, but please look anyway and let me know right away if you find anything. I'll be leaving after Alistair does, to ask in Amaranthine City after the one Warden not present during the attack, and after that I'll likely be heading to the Wending Woods for a few weeks at least.

Thank you,

Elissa


	3. 22 Wintermarch - 1 Guardian, 9:32 Dragon

___This series began as a prompt fill from the Dragon Age Pairing Generator of "Leliana/f!Cousland, Letters" but will cover other letters sent to and from Elissa in the months and years following the end of the Blight. All events and characters mentioned throughout the series coincide with my continuity from A Warden's Duty, building on a combination of my gameplay and fic and Bioware's own canon._

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_(the following letter was undated, but delivered to Vigil's Keep with a large shipment addressed to the Commander approximately 22 Wintermarch, 9:32 Dragon)_

Warden,

The elf informed me before he disembarked at Wycome that it is customary in your land to provide those you hold in esteem with an offering on the anniversary of their birth. The quantity of _qahwa_ that accompanies this correspondence should reach you prior to that date, and it should prove to be a sufficient supply for many months. I regret that I was unable to teach you the proper methods of preparation, but the instruction I've included is simple, though precise. Follow it **carefully**.

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_30 Haring, 9:30 Dragon (this letter, though dated for a year prior, finds its way through various hands to finally reach Vigil's Keep approximately 1 Guardian, 9:32 Dragon)_

Lady Elissa,

I pray this letter finds you safely. Mother, Ria, and I've been in Kirkwall for three months now, and my sister and I have been working for an elven woman who helped us pay our way into the city. Considering the debt she incurred on our behalf, we'll be working for her until next autumn at least. I _know_ I should be grateful; so many refugees from the Blight have been forced into much more dire circumstances than we have, but I can't help but wonder at the gaps between the stories Mother told us of her childhood and the reality that Kirkwall has presented.

Oh! I almost forgot! I dreamed of you last night—that's why I'm writing now, even though I'm sure you're still fighting the darkspawn and won't get this letter for months at least. I don't remember much detail now, but you were in a fantastic hall within a mountainside, where the air was filled with glittering gems. But throughout that beauty was an incredible pain that I couldn't begin to describe but I know it was you being put through such suffering. So please, please be careful, whatever you're doing. We need you to make it through this safely.

…Athenril's glaring at me now, and I think she's afraid the ship she's hired will miss the tide if I make her delay it any longer. As I said in the note I left you in Lothering (assuming you've been back there to find it), I'll be sending this letter to Miriam in Redcliffe, so that she can get it to the Revered Mother and eventually to you. In the meantime, I think I'll sneak into the Chantry tonight and light a candle for you, and pray that the Maker will keep you safe.

You will never know how much what you do means to so many,

Bethany


	4. 10 Drakonis, 9:32 Dragon

_10 Drakonis, 9:32 Dragon_

Alistair, love,

I'm _so_ sorry I haven't written since you returned to Denerim. We still don't know any hows or whys, but I think I found the source of the darkspawn's continued organization here. When we (Oghren, Nathaniel, Anders, and I) finished asking after Kristoff in Amaranthine itself, we made a trip to the Wending Woods before returning to the Keep. There's a mine there where we found the leader of at least some of the new darkspawn, an emissary who's different from the others. I can't be certain, but I could almost swear that he's the source of the sentient darkspawn who attacked Vigil's Keep.

The oddest thing about him, though, isn't his apparent independence. There's a dwarf-woman with him that I could swear is—or once was—a Grey Warden. I can feel the taint in her, but it's different from ours. Her song is decades old, but not fatigued the same way that Riordan's was. Unfortunately, they both escaped before we could capture them and get more information, but I have a strong feeling we'll see them again sooner than later. Now, though, I have to go make an appearance and pretend to be arlessa and once that's over I have another recruit who's asked to take the Joining—a Dalish woman whose sister we thought was taken by the darkspawn, but the sister seems to be willingly staying with them now so I don't know what's happening there.

At any rate, I'll hopefully be staying here at the Keep for the next few weeks consulting with the dwarven engineer overseeing improvements to our defenses while Nathaniel and Anders go back to the Amaranthine City to speak with some hunters who claim to have found an entrance to the Deep Roads at the north end of the arling. If the information's good, we'll be heading there shortly after they return to the Keep.

(By the way, Wynne was at the city's chantry when we stopped there; she's on her way to Cumberland on Circle business that we'll definitely need to discuss when I finally have time to return to Denerim for a while.)

I miss you, love. With any luck at all, I'll be able to come home to visit, at least, soon.

Elissa


End file.
